Our next poem features Kofi Awoonor, a Ghanaian poet who just passed away last year. He has written a number of novels, plays, political essays, literary criticisms, and poetry. Many of his works deal with political turmoils and conflicts of Ghana, and many of his poetry borrow the language and culture of the Ewe people. He died last September at the Westgate shopping mall terrorist attack in Nairobi, Kenya. You can find more information about Awoonor at the Poetry Foundation.

For National Poetry Month, our next featured poem was selected by Nick, written by William Butler Yeats. Yeats was an Irish poet working from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. His poetry reflects Irish politics and independence from England during his day. This poem reflects that. For more info on Yeats, visit Poetry.org.

To celebrate National Poetry Month, Morton College Library is featuring poems by a variety of poets. Today’s featured poem was selected by our librarian, Veronica. For more information on Y.B. Yeats you can go to poets.org or search the catalog for more poetry.

Morton College Library is pleased to welcome its newest additions to the staff! Christina Goings and Nick Casas both joined the library in September as Reference Librarians.

Christina Goings received a BA in history from Eastern Illinois University in 2009, with a specific interest in Public History, Cultural History (pre-1945), and British History and Culture. In addition to studying at EIU, she spent four months studying Early Medieval Kingship, Victorian Culture, and Women’s History at the University of Winchester in Winchester, UK. After graduating, she spent several months as a volunteer at the Illinois State Museum Research and Collection Center in Springfield, IL, where she worked on the Audio-Video Barn Oral History Project. Christina recently completed her Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree at Dominican University, where she focused on Archival Administration, Archival Conservation, Metadata, and Digital Media. While at Dominican, she did a fieldwork study at the Forest Park Historical Society Archives, where she helped with the evaluation of the newly reformed collection and created recommendations for the Society’s future collection development, weeding policies, and finding aids. Now that Christina is at Morton College Library, she’s excited to provide reference services, further develop the library’s resource collection, and help with the Hawthorne Works Museum.

Nick Casas graduated with his Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) from Dominican University this past May. In the past he has interned at Northbrook Public Library as a Multimedia Librarian assisting patrons with music CDs, DVDs, and musical scores. Along with Morton College, Nick currently works as a stack management assistant at Center for Research Libraries in Hyde Park, Chicago, working with rare newspapers, medical journals, and other serials. When in the library, Nick likes helping students find books and materials they need for a paper or even for leisure reading. His ultimate goal is to have each student at Morton College understand the research process so they may continue those skills into their future college and occupational careers.

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated in the United States from September 15-October 15. Five Latin American countries achieved independence on September 15, including: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18. Hispanic Heritage Week was proclaimed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 to encompass these days, which evolved into a month in 1989 under the presidency of Ronald Reagan. This month celebrates the cultures, contributions, and traditions of the Hispanic population in the United States. For more information on this month, and for images, audio, video, and digital exhibits, please visit: http://hispanicheritagemonth.gov.

Morton College Library has a number of resources to meet your research needs in this area. The library continually makes it a priority to collect books, DVDs, and journals on the Hispanic and Latino experience in the arts, literature, education, politics, the sciences, immigration, and much more. The library also collects Spanish-language materials. Please stop into the library to see a small sample of these materials on display next to the entrance. For example, specific journals, magazines, and newspapers available at Morton College Library in this topic area include: The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education; People en Español; Latina Style; Latino Leaders; and La Raza. Statistical facts about the Hispanic population in the United States can be found through the Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb13-ff19.html.

Please visit the library when you are enjoying all of the Hispanic Heritage Month events at Morton College! Library hours for the Fall 2013 semester are Monday-Thursday, 8am-9pm; Friday, 8am-6pm; Saturday, 9am-4pm; and Sunday, 1pm-5pm.

Welcome back to another academic year at Morton College! For those of you that are new to campus, or for those of you that are unfamiliar with Morton College Library, this article is to alert you to all of the services the library has to offer on the first floor of Building B.

Research Resources: The library has numerous books available for checkout to currently enrolled students. If the library does not have what you need, you can order materials through I-Share, which allows you access to over 80 libraries around the state of Illinois. See library staff to set up an account, or visit http://libguides.morton.edu/ishare for instructions. Online library databases in a variety of subjects will direct you to scholarly articles; you can use these for free on any computer in the library, or access them remotely using your Morton login and password. If you need guidance in the use of these resources, please stop in to see one of the librarians, or email us at reference@morton.edu.

Study Spaces: The library contains the largest computer lab on campus, and each computer has Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer. Copiers and Printers are available for a small fee. Upstairs is the quiet study area, as are study rooms; you can check these out for two hours at a time with your current Morton College student ID. The Cyber Cafe on the first floor serves drinks and snacks and provides a space for you to visit with your friends and classmates.

Library Instruction: Faculty can schedule a 30-60 minute library instruction class for their students, which may include but is not limited to: How to use the library catalog and databases, how to evaluate scholarly sources, how to set up and use an I-Share account, how to avoid plagiarism, and a library tour. Librarians can come to your classroom or you can bring your students to the library instruction room.

Library Events: The library holds a number of events throughout the year, including a poetry contest and reading, author readings, musical performances, and more. The library also publishes the Morton College Literary Journal once per year; if you have a poem or photograph you would like to submit, please contact us!

Library hours for the fall semester are Monday-Thursday, 8am-9pm; Friday, 8am-6pm; Saturday, 9am-4pm; and Sunday, 1pm-5pm. The library staff is happy to assist you in any way possible. For more information on library services or to access the online catalog or library databases, please visit: www.morton.edu/mclibrary.

Morton College Instructor Arnie Bernstein’s new book, Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund, was published yesterday! His work can be found on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Swastika-Nation-Fritz-Kuhn-German-American/dp/1250006716. A copy has also been ordered for Morton College Library and will arrive within the next couple of weeks. An author reading will be held in late October – stay tuned for further details!

The following is the description provided on Amazon:

In the late 1930s, the German–American Bund, led by its popinjay dictator Fritz Kuhn, was a small but powerful national movement, determined to conquer the United States government with a fascist dictatorship. They met in private social halls and beer garden backrooms, gathered at private resorts and public rallies, developed their own version of the SS and Hitler Youth, published a national newspaper and—for a brief moment of their own imagined glory—seemed poised to make an impact on American politics.

But while the American Nazi leadership dreamed of their Swastika Nation, an amalgamation of politicians, a rising legal star, an ego-charged newspaper columnist, and denizens of the criminal underworld utilized their respective means and muscle to bring down the movement and its dreams of a United Reich States.

Swastika Nation by Arnie Bernstein is a story of bad guys, good guys, and a few guys who fell somewhere in-between. The rise and fall of Fritz Kuhn and his German-American Bund at the hands of these disparate fighters is a sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing, and always compelling story from start to finish.